Guangdong Peizheng College / Pei Zheng College

[jimo]

Does anyone know anything about this college? I'm considering going there in Feb 09 and would be interested in any information about the school. I've lived in China but never in the south.

[dharmabum]

Hi I worked there 2004/5 and really enjoyed it. Great campus/apartments and good choice of on-site restaurants. One of the main benefits is there are a lot of other foreign teachers there. Downside is it's over an hours bus ride to GZ, but Hadu is abt 30 mins and is large place. I got round this by renting a room in downtown GZ 800rmb per mth but was only teacher doing this.

[jimo]

Thanks for the feedback. Everything I have seen looks like it's a decent place. Guess I'll give it a try.

[Staciejf]

I'm curious if you took this position and what your experience was?

Thanks!

[Enchilada]

Pros:

Light workload - only 20 academic hours per week

Decent pay - starting 8000 RMB

Good holidays - you get the whole winter or summer break(depending when your contract starts) as a paid holiday + national holidays

Good expat community - 80 or so expats living on campus(most over the age of 50, not so great for me as I'm in my 20's)

Cons:

Way off the beaten path - there is nothing but a few restaurants and a grocery store on campus and you are a 90 minute bus ride from Guangzhou

The administration - see explanation below

Split shifts - most teachers work a class in the morning and a class in the evening

Housing - the apartments are decent size but are giant characterless cement blocks where you still have to use natural gas tanks for heating, hot water, and cooking, and the college internet is very slow(but you can get your own DSL)

Holiday pay - one month of your pay(February or August depending on which long holiday you are paid for) is paid at the end of your contract

I should preface my explanation with this: I spoke to other teachers on campus before coming, and they all spoke highly of it. I also recognize that probably 90% of expat teachers at this school stay here years with nothing more than minor and commonplace complaints about the administration.

My story: My girlfriend and I came to the school in late August 2010 for the 2010/2011 academic school year. A few weeks after our arrival we were taken for our medical checks to turn our single entry Z visas into multi-entry residency permits. Due to an illness a year ago in my medical history that came up on my initial bloodwork I had to go into the office for a second blood test a week later. The school visa administrator came with me, and the doctor assured both of us that my medical history would not prevent me from getting my residency permit if I passed the second blood test(which I did).

Before I even got my results though the director of the International Exchange and Cooperation Office, gave me the option of resigning or being fired. My girlfriend and I resigned but agreed to work the last two weeks of September because we were offered the first full months pay and told the school would be willing to transfer our visas to a new employer if we found one.

In the next two weeks we found a job and asked again about transfering our working visas to our new employer. Despite his previous statements, he declined to transfer our working visas to our new employer. Our new employer even spoke with him in Chinese for an hour on the phone explaining that there was no risk of legal repercussions to him. He still refused and also refused to release from our visas allowing our new employer.

Faced with the option of no legal employment in China until 2011, we chose to go home. But, the administration insists on canceling our work visas and giving us tourist visas, presumably because they have a quota of active work visas they can provide. The icing on the cake is that they have been extreme slow in getting our passports to the Guangzhou Exit/Entry bureau to initiate the process which takes 5 business days. So our contracts ended September 30th, but we will not have our passports back from our employer until October 18th.

In short, I recognize that what happened to me is quite unusual and most employees will likely have no issues, but my dealings with the administration have been extremely unsatisfying. I have found the director to be an extraordinarily stubborn and ignorant man, and his employees in the administration staff are unwilling to tell him he is wrong even when they know he is in your defense.

If you are willing to take the risk of being in the 90% he likes, then you may enjoy life here, but if for some reason he does not like you, he can and will make your life in China very difficult and no one will stand in his way.

[pokedmund]

Sorry to hear of your bad experience in China, although idiotic heads in China who are just unreasonable is not unheard of.

I would say though that having only to work 20 hours a week, regardless of split shifts in the morning and evening and earning RMB 8000 is awesome!

I know a NET (but chinese looking) I am working with who is working 45 hours a week, 7 days annual leave a year, for just over HKD8000 a month.

Hope you won't be put off teaching in China in the future! Good luck for the future!

[PeizhengRefugee]

Peizheng College is an absolute AVOID.

First, one previous posters claims that most of the teachers stay there for years and years.

That is SIMPLY not true at all. The turnover is horrific beyond anything seen elsewhere in China. Peizheng generally hires 60-80 foreign teachers per year, depending on enrollment numbers. By the end of the first semester, at least 45-50 of the 80 teachers have either been terminated, run away, evaporated or simply done away with. By the end of the contractual years, at least 60 of the 80 years have been dispatched to other places.

The salary is not high by any means because the foreign teacher must pay his or her own water, electricity, gas, etc., etc., which are charged at rates 3-4 higher than any other prevailing rate in Guangdong Province. It's a money-maker for the school. If the FT's "gross" official salary is RMB 7,800, let's say, the FT will end up with about RMB 6,500 in pocket after deductions.

The school suffers from frequent electric blackouts that can last for 2-3 days at a time and frequent water outages. The setting is more rural than a collective farm in the middle of Siberia except that usually the weather is warm and clement. Surrounding towns/villages are extremely, extremely poor, drab and dirty.

There are cheap three-wheeler cabs to these villages but FT's have been known to be mugged on such trips and stripped of all valuables.

The students themselves are quite likable but decidedly not upwardly mobile and not hard-working at all. This is a private, fees-based college for flunkies who could not make any, any university or vocational college in China -- almost unheard of in China these days.

I can absolutely tell any reader of this board that the previous poster who wrote about the demonic behaviour of the Foreign Affairs Manager is absolutely correct. His behaviour was worthy of Stalag-13 and just as unfathomable as can be -- either extremely kind or extremely vicious, usually more to the vicious than to the kind.

There have been many, many warnings and posting about Peizheng all over the Internet -- on nearly all of the major boards. These warnings should be headed.

Two years ago, this Director decided that he didn't want any teacher over the age of 50 and then he fired all the old-timers. Then the next year he decided that he didn't want any non-native speakers so that in the middle of final term, he fired all of the Filipinos. Then the third year, being this year, he decided that he wanted ONLY older teachers, so that he fired all of the younger teachers. And on and on it goes.

The scandals at the schools are numerous, on-going and exceptionally sordid. Three years ago, to my understanding, the police actually raided the foreign teachers at midnight, or something like that, on some pretext.

Avoid, avoid, avoid, avoid, avoid, avoid, avoid unless you want the worst experience of your working life in the PRC.

[bigjohnox]

I'm getting tired of all this Peizheng bashing. I work here right now, I think I am a sensible person, and my wife and I (both teaching) have a great life here. Of course our chosen profession attracts different types of characters, but on the whole, the vast majority of teachers who are here have been at this college for at least two years. Some more than five. There are about 70-75 foreign teachers here. Most are professional, or at least satisfactory in the classroom, to the point where the chaff show up like fireflies in the night. The Administration gets rid of the chaff, around 4-6 every term. Think about people you have worked with. This is a business. Would any other business accept unsatisfactory employees? I don't think so.
Yes, we are a distance from Guangzhou. Yes, we live in a rural environment, and we do experience INfrequent electrical blackouts, but what was not mentioned is that the college has diesel generators to maintain power. The water is not great either. Of course we have problems. Nothing to really prevent a professional ESL teacher from coming here.
My wife and I have been here since 2007. My best friends have been here longer. Our ages range from early 60's to mid 20's, and we try to work together in relative peace. Enough said.

[kingsleyj]

Peizheng is an absolute avoid. The "boss", Karl Wang, is a cleptomaniac.

February salary is held until the end of June. (illegal)

Teachers who start at peizheng after the beginning of the school year are told they get a 10% increase in salary after one year. They are beng primed for the scam. 7 or so months later, and the teacher gets a new contract, and in the new contract, it is stipulated that the salary is 10% higher than the last one, with no mention of 5 months until the raise. This is yet another trick. The teacher is told it is Peizheng policy to NOT FOLLOW THE CONTRACT. You saw that correctly. The teacher is told it is SCHOOL POLICY to not pay what is stipulated in the contract. What this means is that this is ONE of the ways this school steals money from the teachers. The salaries of the foreign teachers are controlled by the "foreign teacher department" - this is highly irregular. The financial department does not know about the teachers' salaries.

You don't like being scammed? OK, complain about it and NOT get your release letter when your contract ends.

Guangdong Peizheng College is being destroyed by Karl Wang. Peizheng is busy replacing real teachers with inexperienced sheisters, as the real teachers see through the scams.

Students: wonderful, not too hard-working, but not trouble-makers.

Housing: good.

Locals: friendly

Peizheng the town is dirty and dusty.

Workload is light and working there is great, but NOT worth the downsides.

[kingsleyj]

I need to add a short note about John Oxley (bigjonox). He says wonderful things about Peizheng because he is very lucky indeed. After all, his wife teaches there, but she isn't a native speaker of English. She is from Poland. So yeah, they have a nice life as a couple together in Peizheng. They never get lonely or bored. They save lots of money. And she isn't even an English speaker! Maybe she's upper-intermediate in English at best.

So please let's try to keep things in perspective here. Why do people say what they say?

Max Long has been hired to do some of Karl Wang's dirty work. But soon enough Max will be thrown out like a dirty rag, just like lots of teachers right now. I know GOOD teachers who are getting canned at PZ right now. Excuse? Yeah. "Not using a book." What a joke. It's oral English and we aren't allowed to use books.

Max Long doing Karl Wang's dirty work.

And the foreign cafe? The guy who runs it has been let go. So no more foreign-run cafe.

Lots of illegal and immoral things happening at Peizheng. Lots of turnover. The school may be losing the number of visas it's allowed to have, so it's shrinking its Program B.

[jackie]

I have just applied for the next school year. Is it safe for a single woman to travel? to live in the area? The administration sounds terrible, any other advice? Thanks for your help.

[ThirdView]

While I have a lot of personal and professional respect for the above John Oxley, it is worth mentioning that he works in the Foreign Language Department, where there is no office politics because there is very little supervision (and fewer disinterested and disgruntled students).

Yes, it's safe for women. There are many women foreign teachers here, single and married. I don't know of any cases of sexual harassment or sexual assault, on campus or off campus.

Blackouts? I've been here 2 semesters and can count the blackouts on one hand. They turn the water off a lot though.

[ThirdView]

PEI ZHENG COLLEGE: PROS AND CONS

PROS:

-- Exceptionally high salary. Almost $8000 to start, 10% raises every year.

-- Near Hong Kong. 4 or 5 hours by bus from the campus. Less than 2 hours by express train from downtown Guangzhou. For those not familiar with the difference the mainland and Hong Kong, it’s a whole different world down there. Pretty much anything you can’t do or get here, you can do or get there.

-- 3 free buses going to large supermarkets and back, 20 or 30 minutes away, every 2 hours.

-- School provided foreign teachers shopping bus going into Guangzhou every 2 weeks. Last semester on Saturday, this semester on Sunday.

-- City bus to the nearest suburb, Huadu. Every 20 to 30 minutes. 20 or 25 minute trip. Drops you off near the New Century Hotel, the Vanguard Supermarket, and the computer market.

-- 1 hour from an international airport. Take the city bus to the New Century Hotel in Huadu. Take the shuttle from the New Century Hotel to the airport. Here’s another bonus with the Guangzhou airport: it’s connected to the subway system. And I don’t mean walking half a mile. It’s right downstairs from one of the terminals.

-- Small train station in the nearest suburb, Huadu. 30 minutes from the campus. For major destinations, you don’t have to go all the way into Guangzhou to get on or off.

-- Foreign supervisors as a cultural buffer between the foreign teachers and the Chinese management. I haven’t so much as been in the same room as the director of the Foreign Affairs Office or the director of the English Education Center except for the week I arrived.

-- Comparatively large foreign population. 80 foreign teachers. Most other colleges and universities in China have less than half a dozen.

-- Magick Café. A western restaurant that serves authentic American food in a relaxed, community atmosphere. The owner is one of the Pei Zheng foreign teachers. The head cook owned a café in New York. Large movie screen with movies every night. Open 7 nights a week and lunch on weekends. Frequent parties. A bit expensive, so don’t plan to go there every night.

-- Low student-teacher ratio. 15-20 student per class for non-English majors, 12 for English majors.

-- No writing classes.

-- Minimal paperwork.

-- Hands off management.

-- Super efficient housing staff.

-- Longer summer and winter breaks. Almost 2 months each.

-- Beautiful, immaculate campus.

-- The “I Need” shop stocks imported groceries. Plus fresh and frozen packaged meat, assorted cheese, alcohol, and more. Not as much variety as the imported groceries shops downtown, but more than enough to keep your taste buds very happy.

-- The wife of one the foreign teachers serves western style sandwiches. Plus breakfast. And she delivers to the 2 on campus dorms. The prices are about the same as the Magick Café. Since she’s on campus and the Magick Café is off campus, there’s no competition.

-- I showed this list of pros/cons to a couple of foreign teachers here and asked them if anything is missing. They told me that schools in rural areas don’t have bars near the campus. Pei Zheng has several, all of them a 5 minute walk from the campus. Not having a party bone in my body, this factor never occurred to me.




CONS:

-- No summer pay.

-- February pay withheld til the end of the contract.

-- Larger lesson load. 20 lessons per week.

-- Evening classes. These evening classes mean split shifts. They also mean teaching art department students who have little English skill and even less interest.

-- No technology in the classroom.

-- No recreation room.

-- No English Corner room.

-- Harder to find translators than at other schools. Probably because you’re competing with a much larger number of foreigners.

-- Smallish apartments. Some apartments are larger. And there’s a couples compound. I’m referring to the campus housing. Some foreign teachers live in school housing across from the gate. I’ve never actually been in one of these apartments. I’ve heard horror stories about buses coming and going and construction trucks roaring by.

-- No restaurants on campus. Just dining halls. The gate is a 20 minute walk and back. The restaurant food isn’t terrible, but the general consensus among foreign teachers is that it leaves plenty to be desired. There are a few exceptions, namely places that serve decent western food, and again, with higher prices. There’s a teacher’s dining hall with food a bit higher quality than the student dining halls.

-- High menu price considering this is a rural area. On my last campus, a restaurant meal was 4 yuan. Here, more like 16. So unless you like to cook, meals dig into that high salary.

-- 2 hours from urban life.

-- No nightlife, except for the Magick Café.

-- Devastating humidity. This far south, the heat is severe too. But it’s mostly the humidity that gets to you.

-- The water is yellow. No, I don’t mean the Yellow River. No, I don’t mean Guangzhou water or the local town water. I mean the campus water. Not the piped in drinking water. The piped in washing water. So your clothes get a little dirtier every time you wash them. A few of my students even mentioned the yellow water in one of their classroom role plays. Nobody knows why the water is yellow. They shut the water off often to clean the pipes, to no avail. Some of the students rigged the drinking water into the dorm laundromat. In the foreign teachers dorms, the water dispenser is next to the front door and the washing machine is on the patio. If you tried to rig the drinking water into the washing machine, it would be immediately visible to the dorm manager and the repairmen. So plan on periodically hauling all your laundry to another town - or wear your clothes down pretty fast by using bleach in every load.

[ThirdView]

BIG CHANGES AT PEI ZHENG COLLEGE


-- New university president. She came from Beijing and was appointed by the government, not hired by the owners or proprietors.

-- FAO clerk 1. Head clerk and recruiter. 10 year veteran of the Foreign Affairs Office. Left. Pursuing a Masters in Teaching Chinese to Foreigners.

-- FAO clerk 2. Replaced FAO clerk 1. Moved over after 5 years with the English Education Center. Also gone. Also pursuing a Masters in Teaching Chinese to Foreigners.

-- FAO clerk 3. Handled visas. Gone. Reasons I never delved into.

-- FAO clerk 4. Recently replaced FAO clerk 3. Haven’t had much dealings with him.

-- FAO clerk 5. Recently replaced FAO clerk 2. Haven’t had much dealings with her.

-- FAO clerk 6. In charge of the dorms. Super. Knowledgeable and reliable. Usually handles dorm requests in day or two. Sometimes the same day. When I first moved in, I called her about half a dozen problems with the AC, TV, the mosquito net, and I can’t remember what. She was there in 10 minutes and knocked out every problem in 30 minutes.

-- Except for the new arrivals, I can tell you that all these clerks were friendly, efficient, and fluent. Despite the amount of new blood, the office doesn’t seem to be in turmoil, although they don’t get things done as fast as the old regime.

-- English Education Center secretary 1. Gone. She was one of those people who’s in a position to make a lot of people’s employment experience either very difficult or very easy. She had a parade of 80 foreign teachers coming into her office requesting information and paperwork. She consistently responded courteously and accurately. And she did it day in and day out for 5 years. Really going to miss this one.

-- English Education Center secretary 2. Recently replaced EEC secretary 1. Immediately moved her desk into the EEC vice director’s office. Haven’t had extensive dealings with her.

-- FAO Director. Been here only a few years. Fluent, intelligent, perceptive.

-- English Education Center Director. Hardly ever has any dealings with the foreign teachers.

-- English Education Center Vice Director. There were rumors he fired EEC secretary 1 to hire his girlfriend. This suspicion was reinforced when she moved her desk into his office. But as the semester progressed, I saw a bigger picture. He’s been taking a much more active role in the affairs of the department. Observing lessons. Altering the curriculum. Issuing reprimands. Firing teachers he considers incompetent. Making Program B classes optional. Increasing the class size in Program A to 30. Next will probably be more paperwork sent to him about classroom activities, a dress code, etc. He’s already brought up the possibility of a dressed code in response to several complaints from Chinese teachers. (Indeed, some foreign teachers go into the classroom dressed like they’re at the beach. And some wears ties. What a contrast.) When the secretary’s desk was in the Program A office, she dealt directly with the foreign supervisors and the foreign teachers. Now she deals directly with him. So replacing the secretary and moving the secretary’s desk into his office was part of his overall efforts to gain more control over the classroom and more control over the employees.

-- Program A foreign supervisor. Been here a couple of years. Replaced a 5 year veteran. Well liked and universally respected. Model supervisor. Leaving at the end of this semester to spend some time in the States.

-- Program B supervisor. Was a teacher until this semester. Almost all the foreign supervisors start as teachers. This one’s been a controversy magnet. All other foreign supervisors, current and as far back as institutional memory provides, zero controversy. Nuff said.

-- Magick Café manager. 5 year veteran of the school. Was Program B supervisor for a year. Not offered another contract. Was told the decision was directly connected to his involvement with the Magick Café.

-- A note about Program A and Program B. Program A is for freshman. They study nothing but English as freshmen. Program B is for sophomores and juniors. Program A students meet with native teachers twice as often as Program B students. Extensive English training and extensive time with native speakers is a big draw for the parents. It’s one of the reasons they are willing to pay 3 times public tuition. They will make their children take English classes even if the classes are optional. Furthermore, the school isn’t subtracting hours from the students’ schedule just because Program B is optional. That time will be replaced by a class with a Chinese teacher, probably Chinese language or Chinese history. Classes with foreigners involve much less homework and a much more interesting environment. Plus, foreigners are not as harsh with grades. So I don’t expect more than a fraction of the students to drop their sophomore and junior classes with native speakers.

-- The Foreign Language Department, by all accounts, is a foreign teachers dream. They hardly see the dean and pretty much run the show themselves. One source in FLD says you need teaching credentials to work in FLD, one says you don’t. Not sure which version is accurate. However, I can’t help but notice that of 80 foreign teachers at this school, the 5 in FLD seem to be among the most serious about teaching as a profession.

[ThirdView]

When the Magick Café manager was informed he was not invited back next semester, he was told the cause was his association with the Magick Café. When he offered to walk away from the Magick Café, he was told, “The decision has already been made.” If someone’s looking for a piece of the pie, they will be disappointed to discover the piece is actually a few crumbs. For the time being, and probably for a while, the best they could hope for is a few free beers. The Magick Café isn’t losing money, but it’s not making money either. And it might not make a significant profit for a few more years. The manager’s cut at the moment is a commission on the pizzas. You couldn’t feed your cat on that income. He isn’t managing the Magick Café to get rich. You don’t get rich managing an American style café in China. He does it because he enjoys it and because the Magick Café is a worthwhile venture. It’s not a job - yet. It’s just a hobby. His job is teaching. Or was. Well, the silver lining is that this turn of events frees him to develop the Magick Café. The Magick Café is a rare treat in all of China. Let’s hope it doesn’t become collateral damage.

[ThirdView]

The chief cook of the Magick Café has been informed that if he wants to keep his job with Pei Zheng College (Peizheng College), he has to stop volunteering at the Magick Café.

The 2 foreign teachers who have been working at the Magick Café aren’t the owners. The 2 owners are Chinese. One is a young man with a wife and baby. The baby recently had heart surgery. The other works a full time job during the week and manages the Magick Cafe on weekends. Meanwhile, the customers are about half foreign teachers and half Pei Zheng students. So they’re hurting the Chinese as much as they’re hurting the foreigners.

The previous university president, BTW, approved of the Magick Café. With a new president in power, it’s payback time for midlevel Chinese managers.

[ThirdView]

The chief cook of the Magick Café has been informed that if he wants to keep his job with Pei Zheng College (Peizheng College), he has to stop volunteering at the Magick Café.

The 2 foreign teachers who have been working at the Magick Café aren’t the owners. The 2 owners are Chinese. One is a young man with a wife and baby. The baby recently had heart surgery. The other works a full time job during the week and manages the Magick Cafe on weekends. Meanwhile, the customers are about half foreign teachers and half Pei Zheng students. So they’re hurting the Chinese as much as they’re hurting the foreigners.

The previous university president, BTW, approved of the Magick Café. With a new president in power, it’s payback time for midlevel Chinese managers.

These 2 Chinese managers, Karl in the FAOs office and Arthur in the English Education Center, have been on an out-of-control, vindictive binge. Anyone who was late for class, anyone who cancelled a lesson, anyone who dismissed class early, anyone who moved to another room without notice, anyone who complained about the new foreign supervisor, anyone associated with the Magick Café, anyone who said or did anything they disapproved of, has been a victim.

3 teachers ran away in protest during the semester, a lot of teachers opted for another school, and a lot were not invited back. Expect more attrition next semester.

This used to be a great school. Last semester, we were in paradise; this semester, hell. So if you’re looking for a school where controversy, turmoil, and drama are standard operating procedure, this is the place. If you’re looking for a school where you can build your ESL career, make friends, travel, and explore the culture, keep looking.

[ThirdView]

News flash: Not only did they hire a psychotic foreign supervisor, they hired a psychotic visa clerk. He called me after 10 p.m. last night - 6 times!

[ThirdView]

http://forums.eslcafe.com/job/viewtopic.php?p=944040

[TheTruth]

Dear All,

I believe that I personally know most of the posters on this board, the moniker of each not withstanding.

I believe that I have known many of them for several years. Some I admire and respect. One in particular I loathe and detest with every kilogramme of my being.

In terms of what has been written, I would like to confirm the worst nefarious aspects of what has been written.

Peizheng College / University whatever is to be avoided at all costs.

It is indeed set in a beautiful natural setting and that is where it stops.

What has been written about Karl Wang, the Director, Foreign Affairs Office, is absolutely true. He is not someone with whom any normal foreign teacher should care to deal. He definitely prefers the company of young, handsome Western guys, preferably with beards, that is for sure and if you are in this category, you will have a marvelous year and many little goodies will follow you and your days at the College.

Peizheng College is a school for flunkies -- both foreign teachers and students. If a foreign teacher cannot find a job anywhere else in China or in the world for that matter, if a foreign teacher has a record of assault, battery, daily inebriation, contemptuous behaviour, then surely Peizheng College will give him or her a job. It is a true instance of the "inmates running the asylum".

The turnover in foreign teachers is extremely high -- from the first day of the first term until the last day of the second term.

There was the case of one foreign teacher who absolutely battered, nearly to death, the foreign affairs officer at one point in time.

There were the mail order "drugs" that were delivered to the school for use by certain of the more "stable, serious, older" teachers and there were several arrests made in this regard. One teacher fled the school to Oz in order to avoid being arrested.

There was the 25% of the older teachers who reported intoxicated to work on a regular basis.

And then there was this one foreign teacher, whose name I will not mention, who is married to the Russian or Polish or Czech lady, I do not remember, who loved to BULLY and publicly humiliate anyone and everyone that did not agree with him. Now I see that he has become the College mouthpiece. Avoid him and avoid the College.

Then there were the police raids on the foreign teachers' apartments one year, around midnight, for various reasons (drugs, papers, etc., etc.).

Additionally, one poster wrote somewhere of the quick response time to daily needs in the apartments offered to the teachers. This is not the case; this has never been the case; this never will be the case. The apartments are absolutely ill-tended although I will say that there is a cleaning for the stairs and floor corridors who does occasionally appear.

The various managers come and go. The various foreign managers come and go.

If you want to be SCARRED EMOTIONALLY FOR LIFE, then please, please, please go to work at Peizheng College and make sure that you meet the poster BigJohnNox for a personal guided tour of the Gates of Hell.

If you want to enjoy your year abroad in China, there are 10,000 saner, better, more normal, more emotionally healthy schools in which to seek employment in China than this one.

Dante, in the Divine Comedy, which I am sure BigJohnNox has NEVER read, wrote :


Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch'entrate.